1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of devices that are used to open coin rolls by cutting the roll about the circumference of one end.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Coin roll opening tools known in the prior art include tools that cut the paper roll longitudinally from one end to the other and tools that cut the roll about the circumference of one end. There are both hand-held and mountable coin roll opening tools.
The Coin and Token Roll Opener described here is hand-held and therefore does not take up valuable countertop space. It is small enough to fit in a cash register drawer where it can be conveniently picked up and used to open coin rolls or handed to another user. It is also light weight and easily manipulated making it easy to use.
The small size and light weight will allow the Coin and Token Roll Opener to be conveniently stored in a car, truck, or any type of vehicle, or attached to a key chain using a small chain through the eyelet. In this setting, it can be used to quickly open coin or token rolls where the coins or tokens are used to pay fees for toll roads, parkways, and bridges. Struggling to open coin or token rolls in a moving vehicle is very dangerous for obvious reasons.
In addition, the proposed Coin and Token Roll Opener could be used to open rolls of subway tokens.
In all of the above cases, this device could save the annoyance of breaking a fingernail during the coin or token roll opening process.
The small number of parts making up this device leads to ease in manufacturing which, in turn, leads to the advantage of low cost.
The Coin and Token Roll Opener described here looks similar to a wine bottle foil opener, which is constructed from a single piece of molded plastic, but the Coin and Token Roll Opener has several important differences to enable it to open coin and token rolls of various sizes. The wine bottle foil opener will not compress enough to open rolls of coins or tokens and the single piece of molded plastic would not be a stable enough base for the intended purpose of opening paper rolls of coins and tokens. The wings of the Coin and Token Roll Opener are attached by an eyelet, in contrast to the single piece construction of the wine bottle foil opener which does not include an eyelet, and are designed and sized so that they, the wings, can rotate about the eyelet to accommodate coin and token rolls of various sizes. To precisely cut the coin or token roll during the opening process, the device needs to be sturdy to keep it from wobbling like plastic and is therefore cast from aluminum.